Fighting Flatlines (The War Over Mobius Saga, Book 2)
by Sunset-Peril
Summary: The desired outcome of Operation Big Wave was for the rebellion to take control of Metropolis, capital city of Mobius. However, that was not what happened. Not at all. Now, eighteen-year old soldier, Nadia the Wolf, is quickly and painfully dying as a result of the wounds she sustained. Can the love of Gadget, a special forces agent just as broken as she is, save her life?
1. Casualty

By the time Infinite's blast from the Phantom Ruby cleared, eighty percent of the Resistance was dead. The Mobian field they had been fighting in was now covered with the blood and bodies of rebels, ranging from Sonic's former colleagues to unproven recruits. Gadget was on the brink of tears as he and most of Rookiez Special Forces, all rookies, stared at the destruction around them.

 _ **This was war.**_

Sonic, Knuckles, Rose, and their friends were having a hard time processing the destruction as well. Gadget was also worried, because one of their teammates was missing: their strategist, Nadia the Wolf. Gadget was certain that she was dead, along with most of the rookies. And this **hurt**. Gadget had realised something in that painful moment: He was in love with Nadia.

He turned his head, still trying to process the devastation, when he spotted Adalia, a fellow Rookiez agent, being led by a field nurse that was clutching the cat's arm right above a gashing wound, muttering hushedly, 'Stay with us, soldier, stay with us, soldier' over and over again to her.

He continued to look around, his heart and breathing became shaky, unstable and speedy as he looked around desperately, trying to find Nadia. At that point, he didn't quite care whether she was dead or alive, he just wanted to find her. "Nadia! Nadia! **Nadia**!"

Through his vision, about thirty paces and a hundred bodies, away was a familiar red tint. He walked, then sprinted over to find a sight that was both relieving and heart-wrenching: He had found Nadia.

She was alive. However, she was severely injured and had blood gushing from her wounds, which covered the length of her body, and emphasized the damage to her beautiful tail. The pool of blood under her neck suggested it had been torn up, bone visible in a spot on the left side of her neck. She was frozen in a figure that resembled writhing in agony, her body in shock from the injuries she sustained. She groaned endlessly in pain, a glitching dagger piercing her chest not far below her heart; her teeth clenched as she endured her outstanding pain.

"Nadia!" He reached for her in desperation, falling onto his knees, splattering her blood on himself, ripping the dagger out and throwing it against a rock then pressing against the hole in her chest with his paw.

"Gadget…. Are we dead?" Her voice crackled as she looked up at him, blood staining her face crimson.

"No. But you're dying…" He started to cry. "Nadia…. I need to tell you something…. Just in case you don't make it."

"What?" She said in a weak whisper, struggling to keep herself awake.

"I…. I love you, Nadia." He crawled closer to the dying she-wolf.

"I love you too…. Gadget." She kissed him longingly, hoping that she was not already abandoned by life.

He caught her body and held her up with one paw, still pressing against her chest wound with the other. "I'm not gonna tell you 'goodbye'... I can't…. I won't…" He exhaled loudly as he began to shudder and tears ran rampant down his face. "...I sound so selfish but…. don't let this be my last memory of you!"

Nadia began to sniffle as tears ran down her face as well, both from her extreme pain and seeing him so troubled. "I… won't….. force... you…to... remember…." She then stroked his face, closed her eyes, and with a voice that had almost perished she sounded one final groan…..then collapsed. The she-wolf became silent and lifeless almost instantly.

Gadget let out a gut-wrenching, ear-piercing, heart-tearing howl, it was completely off instinct, and everyone on the field, and quite a bit beyond, heard it.

Tears poured out of his eyes and down his face as Commander Knuckles and company raced over.

A field nurse snatched Nadia's limp body from Gadget, causing him to cry out at her. She pressed against Nadia's gushing wounds, instantly becoming drenched in the endless pour of blood and fluids from the she-wolf, trying to find even the slightest pulse. "She's alive…" The nurse looked up at the commander "we have to get her back to base." Amy placed a paw on Gadget's shoulder as she consoled him, eyeing the falcons that Knuckles was waving over to transport the unconscious Nadia back to base. Knowing the urgency of the battlefield, the falcons flew off towards the base as soon as Nadia was secure.

Gadget had stopped howling, Sonic's ears were very grateful. However, Gadget was essentially still sobbing, staring at the piece of sky where Nadia had been whisked away, while surrounded by hundreds of fellow soldiers, all dead and scattered haphazardly on the blood-soaked ground.

"I wanna go back to base now, Commander." Gadget mumbled, his voice hoarse from his cry. Knuckles nodded and screamed to the still surviving troops, in a voice that seemed to be a whisper compared to Gadget's howl:

 **"We're going back to base!"**


	2. Permission to Support Defied Orders

Back at the base, Gadget was staring out the window of the Rookiez bunkhouse, still trying to process everything that had happened during Operation Big Wave.

Other Rookiez agents were trying to keep his spirits up, but news that wounded soldiers were dying left and right was just making the matter worse.

"Hey, rookie." Commander Knuckles appeared.

Gadget sighed.

"I know this is kinda rude to say, but this is exactly why I told you not to fall in love." Knuckles said.

Gadget slightly glared at him.

"It's not like I can control falling in love," the wolf snarled.

"I know, I know." The commander paused for a short while. "Can we talk?"

Gadget whimpered, a few tears ran down his thick vermilion fur. He knew what Knuckles wanted to talk about, and the more that he spoke or even thought about that topic, the worse he felt and the larger his emotional wounds became. His voice sounded unstable, changing pitches and volume with every word as he finally spoke. "I guess..."

"As you might know, many of the soldiers wounded during Big Wave died either on the way back here, or during surgery… in fact, most of the severely wounded soldiers have died already…" Knuckles paused to collect his breath. Operation Big Wave had been his idea, and he had lost hundreds if not thousands of child soldiers, eighty percent of the entire rebellion, from its failure.

Gadget tensed and looked away, his body beginning to shake as he began to lose control of his emotions. "You're here to tell me…" he shook more and a sharp, small wail burst from his mouth before he finished his sentence. "That Nadia's dead?"

Knuckles reached out for his shoulder, feeling the instant urge to comfort Gadget. It was partially his fault that they had fallen in love. "You didn't let me finish."

Gadget slightly turned his head towards him, rampant tears streaming down his fur, soaked in his own grief. 

"I said 'most', not 'all'."

"What do you mean?" Gadget's voice continued to crackle.

"Nadia…. survived surgery. She's still alive."

Gadget couldn't believe his ears, he felt the tears stop rolling down his face.

"But, I have to tell you the tougher-to-hear details…"

Gadget's ears, which were beginning to raise, flattened back down on his head. "What?" 

"She's the only severely wounded soldier still alive… The chances that she'll wake up are pretty slim, the chance of a full recovery is even slimmer. What I'm saying is… don't get your hopes up, Gadget, there's no guarantee that she's going to recover…." He paused once he heard Gadget whimper. "But you're welcome to see her whenever you'd like."

Gadget perked up a bit, his ears stood up and he instinctively began sniffing the air, and Knuckles. 

"Rookie!" he snapped.

Gadget backed up, lowering his head.

"She's not here in the bunkhouse. But do you want to know where she is?"


	3. Critical Condition

As soon as Commander Knuckles and Gadget walked through the entrance to the ICU, Gadget began looking around, trying to locate her. The walls were eerily stained with blood, and a rebel flag draped over the door of almost every room that he could see. Gadget's breaths caught in his chest as his enhanced hearing picked up the undeniable sound of a flatline, and a nurse walked out of a room very near them, her identity was unintelligible as she was covered in blood-soaked fabric.

Her face, revealing a feline of some sort, was nothing but somber as she looked up at a clipboard next to the door. She cringed as tears began glinting in her eyes; she painfully crossed out the soldier's name and began to sob as she wrote 'deceased' in large letters across the board, announcing the death of yet another young animal, one that had never had the chance to live their life.

Gadget whimpered and began to cry with her, he had no strength to fend off the sorrow of his new surroundings.

There was a sheer screaming inside the room, as another nurse dragged someone out of the room, a male tabby who was no older than fourteen, who was screaming for the deceased soldier. "No! She's not gone! She can't be gone! No! My sister!"

The feline nurse looked up at him, aching for him, her voice in a low monologue. "Your sister has fallen."

Commander Knuckles pulled his away from the site, knowing that seeing a soldier die was not going to help Gadget with his own pain. As they walked further down the hall, Gadget watched the doors of wounded soldiers, indescribably addicted to the very thing that tore his heart.

The commander stopped Gadget at a nurse, a female dog with light blue fur, who was more than willing to show them where Nadia's room was.

"She lost a lot of blood. She bled half to death. We don't know when or if she'll wake up, but you're welcome to stay as long as it doesn't interfere with your war duties, Agent Gadget."

"Ehhh, we'll let him stay here as long as she's alive. Woulda done the same with Amy if Eggman hadn't taken Sonic." Knuckles offered, shrugging as if it was no big deal to take Gadget out of service.

"Don't you need all the soldiers you can get?" The stunned nurse asked.

This was true. The surviving soldiers were nothing compared to Eggman's army, and after losing eighty percent of their soldiers to Infinite, no one wanted to join the Resistance.

"I've thought about it, trying to decide what was best for The Resistance. Are we so desperate for soldiers that we will send ones who cannot handle another wispon fire? Or is it better for us to let the wounded heal, then send them back out into battle when they can handle it? Soldiers like Gadget, if they go into battle, might put the rebellion in more danger than a whole force of soldiers who don't know who their allies are." Knuckles replied thoughtfully, as if the response was him taking responsibility for Operation Big Wave.

Gadget looked at them. "I'll still fight," he began, rubbing his arm in expectation of the too-real vision of his injured love. "I just need to spend some time with Nadia for a bit." He frowned, the nurse reached her arm out, placing it on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Of course, let me show her to you; it's kind of hard to see for the first time, especially since you were just in that bloody battle." The nurse's expression was full of compassion for the soldier; she walked him in once he nodded.

He gasped as his paws covered his mouth unconsciously.

Tears filled his amber eyes, instantly stinging and burning, blurring his vision, and worsening a horrible image.

Nadia was covered head to toe in blood-soaked bandages, still and lifeless.

The fur outside the bandages was matted and crusted with her blood.

An intensely pained expression frozen on her face.

Wires and an oxygen tube were the only things keeping her alive.

As Gadget approached her, stunned with horror, he noticed some of the bedsheets were stained with her precious blood. Once his hand touched the bed, cold from her inactivity, he collapsed and began to sob, tenderly stroking her folded down ear as the nurse pulled a blanket over her. Gadget was having a hard time comprehending how, in ten minutes, Nadia could go from a Rookiez agent, strong and brave, to a soldier heavily injured on the front lines, clinging to life.

He mumbled softly to her; he didn't even know what he was saying, only that he couldn't stop the devastated phrases pouring out from his lips.

Commander Knuckles sighed and left.

The room became so silent that all you could hear was the couple's breathing.


	4. Struggling With the Past and Present

As the days went by, Gadget started acting off. He became overprotective of Nadia, which was understandable, but he snarled every time he heard footsteps, his snarling becoming vicious when someone knocked.

This might have been because of one new recruit, who didn't fight in the bloody battle against Infinite, thought the other soldiers, who did fight against Infinite and lost most of their comrades, should lighten up. What the new recruit overlooked however, was that the whole of the Resistance was still on edge after the devastation of Operation Big Wave's failure and suffered from deep mental scars.

When the new soldier attempted to cheer up Gadget, strictly against Commander Knuckles orders, he accidentally provoked the now mentally ill soldier, which led to Gadget attacking the new rookie, gut instinct believing him to be Infinite, whiiich led to Commander Knuckles yelling at both of them.

"Gadget, I know Nadia's injured, but you can't attack a soldier for coming in the room!"

"I thought he was Infinite! He startled me!" Gadget pointed at the new rookie, highly agitated.

"Everyone cool it!" Sonic yelled. All of the battle commanders: Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Silver and others, were attending the scene, to have some level heads.

"You needed to lighted up! Why would you think anyone who walked in the door was a specific person?!"

"We're at **war**! Infinite just slaughtered eighty percent of our troops! My teammates **died** protecting the whole of Mobius!" Gadget roared at the top of his lungs, voice in a deep snarl, and tears forming at the memory of his fallen teammates.

"Everyone settle down!" Amy Rose screamed, Silver helping project the sound.

Knuckles sighed and shook his head, he placed a gentle hand on Gadget's shoulder, who was now of the verge of sobbing, shaking violently as his breaths became heavy with indescribable pain. After a few moments trying to provide some comfort to Gadget, Knuckles walked back to the other admins and conversed.

"Alright, Gadget, you can go." Commander Knuckles ruled.

Gadget looked up, dried his wet eyes with his paws, saluted and walked back to the ICU.

"Why him? Why can't I go?!" the new recruit yelled.

"Because you invaded an ICU room without the permission of the nurses or the people inside and disrupted the peace of a emotionally hurting soldier who just wanted to spend some time with the girl he loves who nearly **died** during the same battle where Infinite killed the majority of our troops!" Knuckles had lost his cool.

"You are dismissed, one more infraction and you will leave the Resistance." Amy took over for Knuckles, who had anger steam coming out of his ears.

The new rookie nodded and ran off.


	5. Self-Denying Truth

The next day, Gadget had cooled off from the incident with the new rookie and was stroking Nadia's folded down ear. Even though she was still covered in blood-soaked bandages, he still thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

The door opened.

Gadget snarled, creeping towards the door.

The doctor, named Kimberly, who was a lean golden lioness clad in medical scrubs, walked in, arms raised in surrender.

Gadget stopped snarling, but his ears drooped down below his head. He sadly walked back to Nadia's bed on all fours, before placing his hands on her bed and whimpered, setting his head down next to Nadia.

"Oh, Gadget, I know. I can't imagine how much you want her to wake up."

Gadget nodded, then used his claws to wipe away tears from his eyes.

"Is she getting better?"

Doctor Kimberly gave him a solemn look and shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Is she getting worse?"

"No."

"Then she's getting better."

She gave him a solemn look, again. "That's not exactly how it works."

"Then how does it work?"

"They're either better, worse, or neutral."

"She's getting better." Gadget restated, ears flattening on his head.

"Gadget..."

"She's getting better!"

"Gadget! She's not getting better! There's no change at all!"

Gadget's ears instantly drooped and he whimpered, he ran behind a curtain.

"Gadget... I'm sorry I yelled at you."

He poked his head out, ears still drooped. "Maybe... I should go." Gadget left the room, glancing solemnly at Nadia before leaving.


	6. The Infinite in Gadget

Gadget arrived back at the Rookiez bunkhouse with mixed feelings.

The girl he loved wasn't any better, and all the other soldiers with injuries similar to her had already succumbed to them and passed away, residing eternally in the afterlife.

He emotionally just hurt. That's the only word he could think of to describe how he felt.

 **Hurt**.

He felt like there was a dagger in his chest that Infinite had stabbed him with, but that he couldn't get back out. His mind swirled with aching thought as it quickly became a muddled mess of blood red and tear blue.

"Gadget! You're back!" one of the other agents cried, attempting to hug him. They wore a metal band that wrapped around their head, with lights equally distanced around the band, and the lights flickered yellow in between longer, more substantial, flashes of red and blue, the same colors that filled Gadget's mind.

Gadget shoved them away.

"Is Nadia ok?"

Gadget shook his head.

"Is she dead?"

Gadget snarled under his breath, trying not to cry at the thought of her possible death. "No." Gadget gathered his fighting gear and strapped his wispon to his back.

"Dude, we're not getting ready to fight." Gadget's good friend, Tussle the Falcon tried to call out to his friend by touching his shoulder, stunned that the red wolf seemed to be on autopilot.

" **You're** not." Gadget snarled, seeming all teeth as he yanked his shoulder away from Tussle, he was more broken and shattered than the rest of them. His ears seemed to become part of his head as they continued to flatten past the furthest comprehensible point. Something in him decided to pull the Burst Wispon off his back.

Tussle's expression was nothing but worry and pain for his friend, not only did Gadget watch 80% of The Resistance die, he watched Nadia bleed half to death! Tussle lowered his hand. Gadget's outburst hurt his heart.

A female Rookiez agent gasped, knowing the fate of certain death that awaited anyone who attempted the implied action. "You're not going to fight Infinite by **yourself** are you?"

Gadget's wispon slapped against his hand as his teeth bared, completely fueled by anger, and refusing to be concealed.

"For Nadia... oh yes I am." he snarled with a violent obsession to **destroy** Infinite in the names of the soldiers already slaughtered.

Everyone was so focused on Gadget's sudden spurt of reckless bravery that they didn't notice the fury and hatred in his words, promising death, pain, misery, and the very thing he was fighting against:

 **murder**.


	7. Renagade Agent!

Author's note: ARRRGH! Why is this chapter so SHORT?! I tried to add to it, but the next few will be longer, Promise!

"Renegade Agent on the run! Gadget's missing! No one's seen him all day! He hasn't even been in Nadia's room! We checked!" Adalia shouted into her headset to Commander Knuckles, who was in the commanding quarters.

They hadn't given Gadget's statement of going after Infinite much thought, but now he was gone!

He had really gone after Infinite!

"That rookie went after Infinite!" Knuckles slammed his palm on the table. "Tell the whole Resistance! We need to track him down before he gets killed!"

Adalia saluted over the screen attached to the headset and signed off.

"That rookie's making a fatal mistake..." Knuckles muttered, turning to a screen where alarms were popping up due to Adalia, and now many other Rookiez agents, spreading the news of Gadget's disappearance to the whole Resistance.

Worries flew through the young echidna's mind, after Big Wave, they couldn't afford to lose any more soldiers. Even more, Knuckles seemed to have developed an affection to the eighteen year old wolf, who had come seemly out of nowhere when the war began, but had only just begun to fight on the front lines.

He knew what had led to the wolf's disappearance: he and Doctor Kimberly had recently been discussing that Gadget was exhibiting signs of depression aggression; caused by Nadia's critical condition. Knuckles sighed.

That rookie was too young to die.


	8. Turning the Tides

Gadget pressed through strong headwinds. He had to keep going. If he turned back, he was a coward. He **had** to do this. For Nadia, and for the 80% of the Resistance that had died because of Infinite. But, mainly for Nadia. He put his left paw in front of his face to shield his eyes from the wind.

Gadget came to a cliff that led to Eggman's base and Infinite. Gadget took his gloves off and placed them in one of the pouches on his utility belt. He jumped up, his claws dug dangerously into the cliff. He winced in pain. Why did his paws hurt so much? Had he dislocated something during the battle? No... It had been 3 days, it would've hurt before today. He climbed up the cliff with his claws, pain shooting through his paws, and reality disappeared; replaced with a past reality that burned inside his head with the morbidity of it all:

The Battle Of The 80%.

A fiery and bloody day where hundreds died at Infinite's paw. But this time, all the pain and death was coded in an irrepressible depression, hued in a deep blue. Especially Nadia's last conscious moments. What if she didn't wake up? What if he came back, and she had died in his absence, never to see him again? What if, as soon as he returned she died right in front of him? Gadget couldn't bear to hear her flatline. It would seal this horrible, irrepressible depression.

 **Forever**.

However, the looming fear of her death felt like reality, as more and more Mobians were slaughtered in this deep blue dystopia. The pain and the memory of that horrid day cause him to start crying. He needed help. He had two different mental illnesses.

All of the Resistance also had the first disease, this neverending bloody memory, and most of Rookiez Special Forces was trapped in the same blue dystopia as Gadget. Blood hit him in the face, but it wasn't someone else's, it was **his**!

And it was **real**!

Something in his paws had snapped, blood flowing out of where his claws met his paws. Gadget snarled in pain, as he climbed onto level ground at long last. He gasped as cold burned near his hidden wounds. The ground was covered in snow. The blood from his paws stained the snow underneath. Gadget ran to a nearby bush and hid. He then arched his back and walked on four legs, assuming a primitive hunting position. He had located his target:

Infinite the Jackal.

Infinite turned.

Gadget froze.

Infinite hovered to one of Gadget's bloody paw prints. He lifted it with his claws as the bloody snow fell through.

There was a rebel around.

He snarled loudly. This meant The Resistance wasn't **dead**!

The bushes rustled.

Infinite turned and looked at the bushes. He hovered closer, only about two feet, before pausing.

Glowing amber eyes, alight with fury and hatred, met his different colored ones.

Without thinking, Infinite muttered a name that could never be.

" **Amara**?"

Gadget pounced.

He took Infinite down with his momentum and weight.

Infinite shouted in shock.

They struggled in the snow, before their struggle ended with a fearful Infinite being pressed into the snow by a enraged Gadget.

Blood from Gadget's paws stained the white fur on Infinite's chest. Gadget let out a sound that was as infuriated as he, Infinite didn't know how such a sound could belong to a living creature.

Before he knew it, Gadget's bloody paws were next to his face.

And his mask was five feet in the air.

 _Whoosh_.

Infinite's mask had landed in the snow seven feet from the fighting males.

Gadget flipped his head back to see Infinite.

But paused.

Infinite's true face consisted of one yellow eye, and one blue eye, with a scar crossing over the blue eye.

But this is not what stunned Gadget.

Infinite had an ear piercing in his left ear. But his earring...

Was an engagment ring.

Gadget stared at the ring for a few moments before recovoring from the shock and continued his assult; since the ring only intensified his emotional pain.

Gadget raised his right paw in the air, the higher it went, the more Gadget bared his teeth.

Infinite, the ruthless killer of thousands, was helpless and terrified. He was afraid of an 18 year old wolf that he, in any other situation, could kill instantly. But he was **helpless**. His survival depended on the level of rage in the wolf.

It was not looking good for Infinite.

His blue and yellow eyes shrunk in terror, he had never been so terrified.

Gadget's paw stopped rising, Infinite hoped he had decided to quit attacking him.

It was a forlorn thought.

Before even a second had passed, Gadget's paw swooped down, and **slashed** the left side of Infinite's face.

Blood immediately seeped out of the wound in streams.

Gadget stood tall, looking even more terrifying in the light, the red wispon strapped to his back glittering with the promise of pain and death, and told Infinite something Infinite had told him during Operation Big Wave.

"First, I will teach you fear, then pain, then... Well, at least the fear and pain will end." Gadget's face turned into a vicious smile for one second, before turning just plain vicious, then he raised his paws, showed the full extent of his teeth, and prepared for the final blow.

Infinite tried to escape, flailing his arms hopelessly.

Gadget snarled, harshly pressed into Infinite's shoulders with his body weight, and stared him down.

"Make peace with your fate, Infinite, your life is now over."

Gadget slashed down his claws.

And disappeared in a flash of light.

"Infinite Jackal, you are under arrest for war crimes, mass murder, torture, and terrorism. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you." Infinite heard handcuffs clinking.

He blinked.

He was still **alive**?

A few officers from a liberated area then led Infinite away.

Infinite turned his head to see, about ten feet away, a few officers muzzle Gadget and restrain him with rope.

"Don't let him escape! He's deranged!" one of them cried.

"Don't worry Rookie, we're going to help you." Commander Knuckles kneeled next to Gadget. He wrapped gauze and bandages around each of Gadget's bleeding, bloody paws.

They chained Gadget to a first aid falcon transporter as Infinite disappeared from sight.


	9. Struggle in Mid-Air

"Sweet decimated Mobius, let me go!" Gadget screamed at no one. He struggled, the chains kept him in place. He bit the air and lashed his claws, despite the fact that they were bandaged, and beginning to stiffen as the blood dried. One of the falcons that were flying the transporter, a deep blue male, felt the shifts behind him and turned around. "Uhhh, boss?" "Yes, Gust?" Knuckles asked, tense from the events concerning Gadget Wolf. He sat in a chamber that was behind the one that Gadget was in, just in case he needed to assist anyone with the wolf.

"The wolf, Gadget, he's lashing out." "Oh, sweet Mobius..." Knuckles muttered. He pulled the fabric separating him and Gadget apart, the wolf was enraged and in a losing battle to escape. He climbed through the chambers and was instantly kicked in the face, warranting Gadget's foot to be held down to the ground, enraging him even more.

"Let me go! Let me go! You can't keep me from her!" Gadget was no longer in his right mind, sanity crumbling right in front of the commander, miles above ground.

Knuckles eyes shrunk in shock as he processed Gadget's behavior. "He's gonna turn the whole thing over!" Knuckles turned his head back towards the additional cabin, and the few officers and soldiers looked towards the rebel commander. "Hurry! Someone grab a sedative! A potent one if you can!"

A few of the officers looked unsure at the request, mentally questioning if sedating an obviously traumatized soldier was humane.

Adalia, who had tagged along, grabbed a needle and gripped it tightly, events flashing though the agent's mind. "One thing you learn in The Resistance, you don't question the commander!" She looked up and quickly tossed the sedative across the transporter.

Once Knuckles received it, he held down Gadget's legs, took off the needle's cover and injected the solution into Gadget's leg.

The young wolf howled in fury, then passed out without a chance for the sedative to calm his emotions.

Knuckles placed a hand on Gadget's ankle, it wasn't pretty, none of this was pretty, but it had to happen.

Now the wolf could get the medical, and psychological, care he needed.


	10. Remember Who You Are

Before this chapter begins, I'd like to point out that much of the dialogue(as well as the mood) is inspired by the song: Sound the Bugle (From Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron)

Once they returned to base, the officers left, and Knuckles and Adalia had to work together to get the unconscious wolf to a doctor, they knew just where to take him. As they arrived at Nadia's room, Kimberly immediately set up another bed for the wolf.

"He's been here for her, the least I can do is return the favor."

Once they all got him settled, Kimberly got the most painful procedures out of the way, the most painful injections, and getting a mental monitor on him to keep an eye on his mental state. While they were inserting an IV to keep a certain medicine in him, he showed signs of waking up.

"His ears are twitching." Sonic noted, having walked in to check on the wolf.

"He's awake, but with all the medicine in him, he's not going to respond to anyone." Kimberly made clear.

Gadget's eyes opened, but were horribly unfocused, strange for the spectacled wolf.

Sonic waved his hand in Gadget's face, just in case he'd respond.

"Well?" Kimberly asked.

"Nothing." Sonic observed.

"He's drugged, of course he isn't responding!" Knuckles added.

Sonic wouldn't give up. "Hey. Buddy. Wake up. Aaaggent."

Gadget snarled, but it was very quiet, more of a sound of annoyance than a full out snarl. He stopped once Sonic quit waving his hand in his face and resumed his unresponsive state.

"Quit buggin' him, Sonic!" Knuckles griped.

"Leave him alone, Commander. He's Sonic."

"Maybe something with Nadia's scent?" Sonic asked, trying to get Gadget to be responsive.

"Do we have anything?" Knuckles asked. "I mean, she was **covered** in blood, is anything she had on not covered in blood?"

"We actually got the blood out of everything that she was wearing, so nothing has her scent." Kimberly replied.

"Well, go rub something on her scent glands!" Knuckles commanded.

Kimberly nodded, she grabbed Nadia's top shirt, and pressed it against her facial scent glands. "Done." She held it on Gadget's nose.

His nose twitched as he sniffed. "Leave me... Leave me lying here... I don't care... I fought for what I believed in... Take Nadia... She needs help..." Gadget mumbled mindlessly.

"He thinks he's dying on a battlefield." Knuckles observed. "I know someone who can help."

Sonic looked at him. "Who?"

"Go find Amy and ask for Gears."

"We don't have a soldier named Gears..." Sonic started.

"I know, but he's been here since Nadia rescued him from getting blown up. He's Gadget's twin brother."

"Oh. Ok." Sonic sped out to ask for this mystery wolf.

A few minutes later, an agitated voice hollered as a blue blur sped back into the room.

"Easy!" Sonic declared, holding a very displeased dark green wolf.

"Get your rebel paws off me!" Gears yelled, slapping Sonic in the face.

"Ow. Strong paws."

"Meet my brother, he's the Alpha." Gears grumbled.

"Mental note: **ow, ow, ow, Don't** tick off Gadget. If getting slapped by Gears hurts this bad, getting slapped by Gadget must hurt!"

"Guess Infinite learned the hard way." Knuckles chuckled, remembering for a second how Infinite looked when he and the police arrived.

Infinite looked terrified, and beat up.

"Why did you drag me here?" Gears tapped his foot impatiently.

They scooted out of the way so Gears could see his brother.

Gears was alight with fury.

"YOU SAID MY BROTHER WASN'T HURT IN THE BATTLE! YOU SAID HE WAS ALRIGHT! WHY IS HE HERE IF HE'S 'OK'?!"

"It's a mental condition, not a medical condition!"

Gears froze. His ears drooped. "I promised Mom and Dad's ghosts that I'd protect him, we were supposed to go off on our own, start our own packs, but then the war started, our whole family crushed to death, and me believing Gadget died with them. When I found him, I promised Mom and Dad that I'd protect him with my life. I didn't know at the time that he was working for The Resistance. I can't believe...

I **failed**."

His knees buckled once he reached Gadget's bedside.

"Gadget..." A strangely female voice called.

Gadget's ears twitched. "Mom?" His head turned to look above Gears as ghosts filled his vision.

"It is not your time to go, Gadget..." His mother's voice echoed. She appeared to him, as green as his brother, but much more gentle. "Be strong, my son, if you give up, what do the deaths of thousands mean?"

Gadget softly gasped as multiple ghosts, some family, most fallen members of the Resistance, and even some he didn't even know, filled his vision. If he gave up, the fallen soldiers would have died in vain, the others, their brutal murders forgotten.

"Be strong tonight..." His mother pleaded.

The ghosts began disappearing, but the tens of ghosts all gave him one last message.

* * *

"Remember **who** you **are**..."


	11. Hope and Fear

" **GADGET! DON'T LEAVE ME**!" Gears screamed, tears pouring down his face.

His brother had seen their mother, and that could only mean...

"Rookie! Nadia needs you! If you die, you're a **jerk**!" Knuckles commanded.

Gadget shook his head. "Wha? Gears? What are you doing here?" Gadget mumbled, highly confused.

Gears didn't say anything, he just tightly hugged his brother.

"Where am I? What's that thing on my head? Where's my headset?" Gadget asked, speech slurred.

The commander touched Gadget's shoulder. "You're at the base, Rookie, you have a mental monitor on your head, and your headset is right there on the table."

Gadget groaned. "My **head**..."

"It's going to hurt for a while, Gadget, you've got a lot of medicine in you."

"Why?" He asked, holding the sides of his head in his paws.

"It happened to the entire Resistance, rookie, you're not the only one experiencing this." Knuckles assured.

"You didn't answer my question..."

"You have two different mental illnesses, Gadget, both are from the Battle of the 80% and its effects." Kimberly told him.

"And they are?" Gears asked, annoyed with the conversation being dragged out like this.

"Patience, Gears, we have to tell him things one at a time."

"What are they?" Gadget mumbled.

Knuckles looked at Kimberly, she looked at a screen.

"PTSD and Depression." Kimberly read.

"Who's a what's a?" Gadget groaned, laying down and gripping his head.

"Oh, the first one is called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, it's why you've been seeing the Battle of the 80% in your head over and over."

"Can you make it stop?" Gadget whimpered.

Doctor Kimberly looked down and shook her head.

"I can't, therapy is the only thing that might help you."

Gadget moved his paw to cover his eyes, letting out another groan.

Kimberly touched his left shoulder; he twitched.

"Look who's here..."

Gadget looked at her, she pointed towards Nadia, he perked up. "Nadia! Is she alright?!" He yelled, before realizing that he was too loud for his own aching brain.

"Is this really happening to the whole Resistance?" Gears asked, stunned.

Knuckles nodded somberly.

"They're losing their willpower; we're losing our fighting force. If we lose the war..." Knuckles didn't have to say.

They knew.

Even **Gears** knew.

Gadget looked down somberly, a few tears rolling down the thick fur on his face.

Gears hugged his twin brother, and held the IV stand. "Come on."

Gadget stood as Gears led him over to Nadia, the others in deep confusion.

Gears set the stand next to Nadia, Gadget bent down to see her.

She didn't look any better than when she arrived, what if she never did?

He placed a paw on her back and gently pulled her closer.

"Infinite's gone, Nadia, we're gonna take down the Empire and free Mobius!" He told her, hoping to evoke a response from her.

She didn't respond.

He sighed and nuzzled her. "Please wake up..." he whispered in her ear.

" **Please**?"


	12. I Know What I Have to Do

A week went by, Nadia was **still** unconscious.

Gadget however, had recovered substantially from his mental disorders, so had the rest of the Resistance, even though they all still had to wear the mental monitors, and the monitor chip that had been installed in their headsets, since they technically still had the disorders.

Gadget had moved back to the bunkhouse within the week, and news of him taking down Infinite spread like wildfire.

With the truth of Infinite arrested and out of the war, the shattered Rookiez agents found a glimmer of hope.

"We could win the war!" A female agent proclaimed, the same one who had questioned Gadget before he left to fight Infinite, mental monitor blinking a gold color.

Gadget smiled and nodded, they could win back the world.

The agents were doing progressively better in their PTSD and depression therapy and were able to continue fighting battles.

Commander Knuckles came into the bunkhouse.

"I am very proud of all you rookies, not only are you fighting through your mental traumas, but you are continuing to fight for what's right." Knuckles announced, filled with the same light of hope that Rookiez was, it was now closer to the Resistance than ever.

As the now enlightened soldiers conversed on how good life will be when the war ends, Knuckles went up to Gadget.

"You need to come with me. We need to talk." Knuckles' voice was hardly above a whisper, and was completely different in tone from his previous statement, but Gadget couldn't tell what emotion the tone was, just that it was negative.

"Ok." Gadget said, if the commander wanted to tell him something with that tone, it couldn't be good. Gadget felt his hope drain out of him, and his depression well up in its place.

It didn't feel pleasant.

His mental monitor's lights went from slowly blinking gold, to moderately blinking a deep heavy blue. The philosophy of 'No news is good news' filled his mind, what was going on?

"Agent Gadget." a familiar voice spoke grimly. Kimberly was here.

"What happened to Nadia?" Gadget immediately responded with worry.

Doctor Kimberly and Commander Knuckles sighed. A long silence descended into the room and onto its inhabitants.

"We have to let her go..." Kimberly finally told him.

" **What**?"

"She hasn't shown any signs of waking up, or getting better, but she's in a lot of pain."

"We have to just let her die." Knuckles muttered blankly, in an attempt to mask his own emotions from the rookie.

Gadget didn't respond.

He **couldn't** respond.

He just sank in his chair, trying desperately not to cry. His mental monitor's deep blinking blue became darker and more substantial, until it quit blinking, and the deep, highly depressing blue was nothing but a ray of despair.

"It's the only humane thing to do, Gadget. It isn't fair to keep her alive if she isn't going to wake up." Kimberly continued.

"But..." Gadget whimpered. "Can't I say goodbye?"

"No. It just needs to be a clean break. You're already going to struggle enough with the loss." Kimberly answered harshly.

"We have something worked out for you though, if you'll agree."

"What?" Gadget said, now half listening.

"If you'll agree, we'd like to, before we cut the life support, use a medical procedure to give you and her a child."

Gadget started listening.

His mental monitor quickly flashed a singular bright yellow ray that didn't even last a second.

" **What?** "

"She's an amazing soldier, so are you, and since we know how much you love each other, we would like to know if you'll be willing to keep a part of her alive, even though she won't be on Mobius." Knuckles explained.

"We understand if you don't want to, it's a very hard decision for an 18 year old to make." Kimberly told him.

It **was**.

He was 18 and still in war.

He thought about it for quite a while until he made his decision.

"I'll do it, I want to raise her pups." Knuckles and Kimberly exchanged glances, ones that said 'We'll correct him later.' Gadget stood up to go.

"Have a good day, soldier, we'll come get you in a few hours for the operation." Gadget walked out and closed the door.

He paused.

Took a few deep breaths as he processed what had happened.

Clenched his fists for a second.

His mental monitor flashed silver once.

And he ran towards Nadia's room.

Author's Note: An explanation on the whole 'child' thing before I get asked: Knuckles and Kimberly knew that Gadget would grieve endlessly over Nadia, and this was an attempt to keep him... distracted so-to-speak. Talking Grief Stages, this would probably fall under Bargaining, they're trying to give Gadget something (In this case, a baby) that would help end his grief.

If you have any more questions about that, feel free to PM me...


	13. Awake and Alive

Gadget yanked at the doorknob.

 **Locked.**

From the time he heard the depressing news to the time he touched the doorknob on Nadia's ICU room, his mental monitor had flashed silver thirty times.

"Come on, open..." He muttered to the door.

Knuckles and Kimberly were after him, they didn't want him going anywhere near Nadia.

A light bulb went off in Gadget's head.

He pulled out his wispon and shot the lock and hinges, before kicking the door down. Gadget ran towards Nadia, collapsing in a heap beside her bed.

"Nadia! Nadia, you have to wake up **now**! If you don't, they're just going to let you die!" His voice started to crack as he began to sob.

"Even if you're going to die, **please** , show me a sign so that I know that your life is over. But otherwise, **wake up**!" Gadget then flopped his face on her bed and started sobbing uncontrollably, the monitor returning to its never-ending blue ray of depression after Gadget's bout of silver betrayal.

Knuckles and Kimberly stepped in the room, Knuckles was about to yell at the soldier before Kimberly covered his mouth.

Nadia's arm twitched.

Gadget felt it and looked at her.

His monitor flashed gold for a moment.

She twitched **again**.

Nadia's face dove into an even more pained expression before all the pain that had been frozen in her face for almost two weeks released, her ears flipped up and and the wince in her face reset to an emotionless expression.

Her left arm slowly moved underneath her face and, with the help of her other arm, pushed her up. Her eyes gradually opened as Gadget came into her view.

He looked like a **mess**.

Tears running down his face and his fur ruffled and matted like a common street dog.

"Gadget?" Nadia said softly, her vocal cords refusing to vibrate after two weeks of standing on the fence that bordered life and death. "Are you ok?"

More tears, this time tears of relief, ran down his face.

"It feels like you're back, back... from the **dead**." Gadget lost it. He wrapped his arms around Nadia and began to bawl; all the fear, sadness, and pain expelled from him in that one moment.

His moment of relief.

Nadia was alive, and fully awake now. She would survive. There was no need for the endless hovering by her side, the countless nights where Gadget cried himself to sleep way past midnight.

After about a minute or two after Gadget lost control of his emotions, he pulled back and smiled, wiping tears from his eyes.

They looked deep in each other's gaze, Nadia's paw rested over Gadget's, they slightly leaned closer, the fur on their cheeks then darkened into a deeper red and their ears folded down in embarrassment, before they kissed, a soft kiss on each other's lips that lasted for a second, and green sparkles swirled around their faces, bandages unwrapping on Nadia's face, then they pulled away.

"I love you, Gadget." Nadia whispered into his ear, Gadget stroked her bandaged shoulder.

"I love you too, Nadia... Very much." Gadget's monitor now bore an illuminating golden ray of hope, as bright as the light that the Resistance saw in their dreams.

Knuckles and Doctor Kimberly gaped at the sight of Nadia being awake.


	14. Recovery

Nadia's arms buckled under her, her head hit Gadget's chest with an awkward thud.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed.

"Hi." Gadget said, putting a paw behind her head, and trying to be funny.

She hoarsely, and awkwardly, laughed. "Hi..."

Doctor Kimberly came over. "Good morning, Agent Nadia, I'm glad you're awake."

"Everything's spinning..." Nadia mumbled.

"You have a very low blood level, Nadia." Kimberly replied.

Gadget laid her down and covered her with the blankets.

Kimberly looked at Gadget, he took a few seconds to notice Kimberly. "You do realize what you did was insubordination, right?"

Gadget nodded. "But she's alive, that's all that matters." He softly kissed Nadia's forehead, and her placing a paw on the back of his neck. Gadget bent down next to Nadia's head, and they cooed softly to each other.

"You're gonna have to fight in the war, rookie." Knuckles reminded.

"I know."

"I'll fight too..." Nadia slurred.

" **No**." Knuckles ordered before Gadget could. "You nearly died two weeks ago and now you can't even talk right, **no**."

"Two weeks? It's been two weeks since Operation Big Wave?" Nadia mumbled to Gadget, hardly audible.

"Yes."

"Are we still losing the war? Is Infinite still killing our troops?"

Knuckles looked at Gadget. "Go on. You tell her." Knuckles smiled.

"Infinite's in jail, Nadia. He can't kill us anymore, we might win the war!" Gadget's mental monitor blinked a bright pink color very rapidly.

Knuckles looked at Doctor Kimberly.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, Nadia is healing his depression!"

Nadia filled with hope at Gadget's statement. "We could win back Mobius?" Nadia's weak voice whispered with newfound hope.

Gadget nodded and hugged her, Nadia tightly wrapped her arms around Gadget and relieved, joyful tears ran down her face, lightly laughing.

Once they were done hugging, Nadia noticed that her body was covered in nothing but bandages, she blushed upon noticing Gadget, suddenly feeling vulnerable towards him.

He caught her gaze and read her emotions quickly, face dropping as he realised 'Oh' and stepped back; mouthing 'I'm not looking...' He hid his face in the curtains to show her that he valued her.

Kimberly left the room, then promptly returned with a hospital gown for Nadia then looked at Gadget.

"I need you to help me with her... I can't hold her and have her put this on."

Gadget seemed to hesitate, he didn't want Nadia to feel invaded.

Nadia looked at him, but slightly hid more under the covers.

"I... I don't know..."

"I know this is a bit uncomfortable for you both, but I did not ask." Gadget nodded, slightly cringing at the awkward situation, then took the dull, light green gown from Kimberly. Gadget helped her get the gown on, Nadia seemed to relax afterwards.

"Thanks." Nadia's soft voice crackled.

"Anytime." She groaned and touched the left side of her neck, Gadget gently ran his paw down the area.

"It **hurts** , more than all the other injuries."

"You could see the bone there after the Battle of the 80%, it **looked** like it hurt." Gadget softly said. She touched his right paw before taking it into her hand and brushing her fingers over where his fingers met his claws.

"What happened?" She strained to add tone to her hardly audible voice.

"I'm not sure. But I'm fine." Gadget tried to soothe her, hardly succeeding.

"Does it hurt?" She pressed, though it didn't seem like pressing on, she just seemed worried.  
She put pressure on the area, Gadget winced and let out a muffled cry of pain.

"When you do that it does." Gadget said with teeth clenched in pain. Nadia let go of his paw.

"Sorry..." Gadget softly kissed her cheek, kiss blending into a nuzzle.

"It's alright Nadia, it's alright." She nuzzled him back, just as deeply as he did.  
Knuckles motioned for Gadget to come over to him.

"I'll be right back Nadia."

"I know you will..."


	15. I'm Her Voice

"Yes, Dad?" Gadget saluted.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Why do you guys **insist** on calling me that?" he complained.

"Well, you never call us by **our** real names, and you act the part. Not to mention most of us are rookies that lost everyone we knew or loved and we're all pretty lonely."

Knuckles growled under his breath. "If I start calling you all by your real names, will you stop calling me 'Dad'?"

Gadget's eyes looked up and his face twisted as he thought. "No."

Knuckles started waving his fists in the air. "WHY NOT?!"

"I already gave you a reason, plus, I've heard you call us 'your kids'."

Knuckles stopped waving his fist in the air and looked at the rookie. He opened his mouth to speak, no sound was heard. He finally sighed. "It's true, I do kinda think of you as my son." The Commander paused for about four seconds. "BUT DON'T LET IT GO TO YOUR HEAD!"

"Could you keep it down, Commander?" Doctor Kimberly asked.

"Is this what you wanted to tell me?" Gadget asked in a tone that, for a moment, made him look much more professional than Commander Knuckles.

Knuckles looked back at him with an 'Oh, right' expression. "Well, now that Nadia's awake, we can't let you continue her bloodline without her permission. If you still want to have pups with her, you're gonna have to take it up with her... But not till the war's over!"

"Ok, ok." Gadget snickered at Knuckles' overreaction. "I was only going to father pups if she wasn't going to make it. I'm eighteen for crying out loud! I don't have the mental stability or the **time** to raise pups."

Knuckles gave him look that wasn't sure if Gadget was teasing him or not.

Kimberly nudged Gadget's shoulder and pointed at Nadia, who had her paw extended in a pitiful reaching pose and whimpering, though her whimpers sounded like stressed air.

Gadget walked over to her, her reaching paw pulsed with movement towards him until it swept down his chest. "You ok Nadia, honey?"

She pressed the top of her head into where his jaw met his throat.

He curled his head behind her's, his breath blowing the fur on her neck in all different directions, before promising comfort. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere right now, I'll make sure someone will tell you if I have anywhere to go."

Nadia motioned to her neck, and Gadget's assumed that her neck was putting her in a lot of pain.

He rubbed her neck gently, careful not to scare her, knowing that since she was hurt so severely, she definitely had PTSD like him and the rest of The Resistance.

She seemed to enjoy the act of affection, but that wasn't what she was trying to tell him. Nadia opened her mouth to try and tell him something, but no sound came out, regardless of her mouth moving, frustrating and scaring her.

'I can't talk!' Nadia mouthed in shock.

"You can't talk." Gadget whispered with sympathy and fear for her, his mental monitor's lights seemed to shutter purple with his fear. "She can't talk!" He yelled to Doctor Kimberly.

Kimberly felt her throat while Nadia tried to talk. "She's **too weak** , her blood level's **too low** , she just needs to rest; to get her strength up."

Nadia continued to motion however, but Gadget didn't understand her weak signals.

"What is it, Nadia? I don't understand." He tried not to yell at her, it wasn't her fault. He tugged at his ears and growled in frustration, pacing in circles, looking away from her to keep her from thinking that he was angry at her.

"Here." Kimberly handed her a piece of paper and a pencil.

"Can she even write?" Knuckles asked. "When she joined The Resistance, she didn't even know her **name**."

"She's gonna have to, otherwise she can't communicate."

Nadia gave the pencil and paper a weird look.

"Yes or No: Can you write?" Gadget asked slowly.

Nadia shook her head.

Gadget sighed and looked at Kimberly. "She can't write." He then growled and swinged his arms down, before putting his hands to his head in frustration.

"I got an idea." Knuckles handed her a keyboard and plugged it into her headset. "Gadget. Teach her to write. You're her voice."

Nadia nodded and pointed at both of them. That's what she was trying to tell them.

"I'm her voice." Gadget said in realization.

Knuckles nodded and walked out of the room as Gadget sat down next to Nadia and began to teach her writing basics, that way she could communicate while he was at war.

"Do you want to know how to write your name?" Gadget tried very hard to ask everything in a way where she could gesture: 'Yes', 'No', 'I don't know'.

Nadia nodded, she wanted to be able to write her name.

Gadget took her right paw and moved it over the 'N' key. "Push it."

She pushed the key and seem thrilled when a 'n' appeared on her headset. Nadia grabbed Gadget's shoulders and shook him as hard as she could, which wasn't very hard.

"Good girl!" Gadget encouraged her. He took her paw and moved it to the 'A' key and nodded, Nadia pushed the key and again, beamed when an 'a' appeared on her headset. Once Gadget had led her through 'D', 'I' and 'A' again, he looked at her proudly. "'Nadia' That's your name. You wrote your name Nadia!"

She smiled so brightly that Gadget thought that her smile couldn't even fit on her face, and hugged him tightly. She motioned her arms out in a receiving pose. What next?

Gadget chuckled and kissed her cheek.

"Alright, Nadia, let's keep working. As long as Dad or Rookiez doesn't need me, I got all the time in the world." He was wrong however, because a few seconds later, his headset roared with a familiar voice.

"Gadget! Dude! Rookiez briefing in the bunkhouse **now**! **Where** on this apocalyptic planet are you?!" Tussle yelled through Gadget's headset.

"Sheesh dude, I'm coming." Gadget replied, Nadia looked at him with a face that said 'Do you have to?'. Gadget pressed his head against her's. "I have to go, Nadia. But Infinite's gone, I'll be back." His heart ached for her when he saw the look on her face. She was helpless without him there to communicate for her. Gadget kissed her forehead before whispering, conveying the ache in his heart. "I love you."

He took his wispon off his back and ran out of the room, just like he ran towards battles before Infinite killed most of The Resistance.


	16. At Ease

"There he is." Commander Knuckles pointed towards Gadget.

Gadget mumbled, he **hated** getting called out in the briefings.

Tussle stood up, and hugged his friend.

Gadget returned the hug, and began crying.

"Dude, what's wrong? Depression getting to you?"

"I-I don't know why I'm crying." Gadget blubbered to his friend.

"It's ok, rookie, you've had a lot going on and have been going non-stop, and know that you have stopped, everything just sunk it." the commander consoled.

"I-I was a jerk to you a week ago, Tussle... I'm so sorry." Gadget felt his friend hug him tighter.

"Don't worry about it. You had a lot going on inside your head." Gadget nodded, Tussle lead him to the group.

All the agents stood and patted Gadget on the back as he went by and whispered encouraging words to him.

He smiled even though tears continued to pour down his face.

Knuckles nudged him.

"So, the agents have been wondering, How's Nadia?"

Gadget nodded, tears refusing to quit running down his face. "She's awake-"

With those two words, Rookiez Special Forces erupted into cheers, and spooked Gadget, who was used to the quiet of Nadia's room.

Knuckles waved them to stop, noticing Gadget's reaction to the noise. "Ok, rookie?"

"Yeah, just, I kinda got used to the quiet." Gadget rubbed his shoulder.

The agents turned towards Gadget in expectation.

"I think they want some more details on Nadia's condition." the commander noted.

"You think?" Gadget sarcastically replied.

Suddenly, Adalia ran up to them and grabbed Gadget's left arm, pulling him towards her forcefully. "Just tell us how our teammate is! You're the only one who's seen her!"

Gadget gulped.

"Easy, agent." Knuckles began.

Adalia let go of Gadget, who in turn fell down, and walked back.

Grunting, Gadget stood back up.

"How's Nadia?" a female agent called, all the girls were very close and were devastated with all the female losses; they wanted to know if they were going to lose another female agent.

"She's doing really well, she's been awake for a while, she can't talk, but she's getting better, she's a fighter."

The agents nodded, girls sighing in relief that she was going to make it but one then froze in realization. "She can't talk?!"

Gadget sighed. "No, but so far that's the only problem she's run into, she's **going** to get her voice back, she's **going** to be just fine." Gadget replied in an attempt to soothe them, but his voice and tone made it clear that he was trying to soothe himself.

The girls seemed to relax.

Gadget turned to Knuckles. "So, what's the mission?"

"Attacking and taking over land near here, now that Infinite's in prison. You up to fighting, Rookie?"

Gadget blinked.

Commander Knuckles was giving him a **choice**?

"Of course. I'll fight until the war is won, unless you command me otherwise."

"You don't need to stay with Nadia?"

"Nadia will understand, I love her immensely, but my first allegiance must be to the Resistance, her second."

Knuckles nodded, he was a good soldier.

"In any other time, if the events that had led to today hadn't happened, I would gratefully accept your first allegiance, but she needs you, Soldier, I'm going to ask you to remain here."

Gadget nodded, slightly stunned.

"Yes, Commander."

Knuckles nodded his head, indicating for Gadget to head back to Nadia.

Gadget walked back.


	17. Canaris Finale

Gadget knocked softly on the door of Nadia's ICU room, and the door quietly opened.

Kimberly seemed very shocked to see him.

"It's fine, Kimberly, Knuckles is having me be with Nadia."

Kimberly nodded, and led Gadget back in.

Nadia was thrilled, confused, and terrified at the exact same time.

He stroked her bandaged face gently.

"It's ok, Nadia, it's ok…."

She seemed to relax a bit at his touch, and became more excited that he was back.

"Don't waste your energy, Nadia, you need it to get better."

She nodded, then placed a tiny kiss on his lips.

Gadget felt a light pulling sensation as she kissed him, and placed his right arm around her back, drawing the she-wolf closer to him, green sparkles once again swirling around them. As they pulled away, Gadget felt the pull subside and noticed that the sparkles that had formed while they kissed were bejeweling her matted, blood-stained fur. Gadget's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Those sparkles only formed when soulmates kissed; she was his true love! His tail instantly began to wag faster and faster, overjoyed that Nadia was meant to be his, and that he was meant to be hers. Another realization struck him as he kneeled there wagging: He was what had let Nadia survive! He'd seen it with his parents; those sparkles healed lovers faster than any surgery. His being there had transferred the healing effect from him to her, causing her wounds to become less fatal every minute he was by her side. Gadget cupped Nadia's cheeks in his paws and nuzzled her lovely face.

She smiled, adoring the affection that she felt radiate off him, and copied his motions, learning how to nuzzle him back.

An Alpha Wolf since he was young, he felt his pack instinct fire up within him. He wanted her. To defend her. To cherish her. The Alpha inside Gadget howled with longing for the young she-wolf, the creature he was deep down felt a intense adoration to Nadia, and he instantly desired her as his mate; to form a pack with her.

She would be his mate, an Alpha Female.

Gadget suppressed the animal as he recalled Kimberly's presence, he knew she would not allow him to have Nadia as his right then. Perhaps it was for the best, forcing him to stay in control of himself, but yet it was **so hard**. Gadget gently let go of Nadia as he realized the reason behind his newfound desires. _Uh oh, I started Canaris Finale..._ The one thought echoed through his whole being, as terrifying as the Phantom Ruby.

Canaris Finale was the final development period in wolves, Gadget knew he was old enough, but it never crossed his mind that it would happen during the war. He'd heard the stories of the biological event, and it frightened him almost as much as losing Nadia did.

Nadia touched his shoulder, noticing he had tensed up, and gave him a gentle, worried look.

Gadget sighed and laced his fingers with hers. "It's ok, I'm just a bit tired…" He hoped that she wouldn't worry about him, because he was worried about her, he wanted to make sure she recovered before she started tackling his problems.

Nadia moved back a bit in her bed, motioning to the space that she had left for him to lay his head down.

Gadget smiled as he laid his head down in the empty space and yawned.

Nadia pulled more of the covers onto her and closed her eyes too.

Kimberly smiled and turned off the light, then closed the blinds since the room was still quite bright.

Gadget's tail slightly wagged, beginning to slow as he started falling asleep. Just before he dozed off, he felt Nadia hold his hand.

They fell asleep just like that, holding hands and glad to have each other there.


	18. This is Reality Breaching

Exhausted from their Post-Big Wave ordeals, Gadget and Nadia slept through the rest of the day.

Kimberly had even dozed off after watching the two sleep for hours.

The wolves had cuddled closer to each other while they dreamed, finding refuge from the war in each other.

Near sunset, there was a knock at the door before it quietly opened.

Gadget twitched, then bolted toward the door as he woke up, almost failing to regain consciousness before his legs touched the floor. He barked loudly and continued to bolt towards the door.

Adalia was beginning to walk through the door when she spotted Gadget, she gasped slammed the door, deciding in a split-second not to enter the room.

All the sudden commotion woke up Kimberly who looked around in confusion before running over to Gadget. She pushed down his shoulders as he reached the door, causing him to fall to the floor and struggle, yelping and squeaking in frustration. "Gadget, quiet!" Kimberly muttered harshly. "Don't wake up Nadia!"

At the mention of his lover, Gadget quit squeaking, becoming quiet almost instantly, and pausing his squirming for a few seconds.

Kimberly slightly opened the door and peeked out, seeing Adalia take a few gasping breaths.

"I-I thought it would be okay to come in and see Nadia, I'm sorry."

Kimberly kept her eyes on Adalia, still pressing on Gadget's shoulders. "Don't be. You have every right to see her, now that she's conscious." She looked back at him for a few seconds before returning her glance to Adalia. "I'm sorry, he's never acted like this…"

"It's alright, we're all still on edge."

Kimberly opened her mouth to try and apologize once again for Gadget's behavior, motioning to him as if to say she refused to be forgiven for the rash behavior, but Adalia silenced her.

"He's on edge. The more you get onto him about it, the worse he's gonna get."

Kimberly looked down at Gadget, who met her gaze, and realized that Adalia was right. He had sold his sanity to save the world and was merely trying to protect the little that he had left. She frowned, feeling a jerk. "I'm sorry, Gadget, I guess I'm really uptight as well. This war keeps escalating, and it's not helping anyone out."

Gadget whined knowingly. "I know…. Why do you think I'm insane?"

"Gadget…. You're not insane..."

"Then why does everyone say I am?"

"Because you tried to kill the guy who killed, oh let me see, eighty percent of our army and pretty much half of the entire planet." Adalia bluntly butted, rolling her eyes into the back of her head.

"Not helping, Agent Adalia…"

Adalia seemed surprised at Kimberly's slight reprimand, looking at the lioness with a shocked expression.

"This isn't the bunkhouse, Agent. Watch your mouth." Kimberly near snapped.

A slight look of shame flickered across Adalia's face, as if that had been the first time she'd been corrected for her harsh mouth. "Absolutely, ma'am."

Gadget attempted to rise onto two feet, shaking as he tried to find his balance. He felt Kimberly's arms pull him up.

"Are you okay, Agent Gadget?" The lioness's voice returned to its former, soothing tone, the same tone she'd used to talk to him when was first diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he felt comforted, just like he had when she whispered to him in the middle of the night while he fretted about Nadia's survival.

He met her gaze; the red beams of sunset struck their fur, making both soldier and doctor glow with an indescribable essence as Gadget was able to stand on both feet. "I think I'm okay, honestly, I just need to see someone…." He motioned towards the door; Kimberly understood he wanted to talk privately.

"Adalia, why don't you go and see Nadia? I'll be right with you." Once Adalia nodded, she reached her arm around Gadget's back and walked him out of the room. "You're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm being serious. I just need to see an older wolf, preferably late twenties or early thirties. Do you think there's one here that I could see?"

"Are you comfortable with telling me why?"

Gadget glanced away and rubbed his arm. As a doctor, he knew he could trust Kimberly, but his Alpha instincts wanted to keep it a secret. He sighed. "Just….biology…"

"Oh." Kimberly breathed, that one word told her everything she needed to know. "I do know someone, I'll call as soon as we're done here, and just know I'm here for you too…"

Hot tears began rolling down Gadget's face, he whimpered a little, Kimberly grabbed his hands and clutched them tightly. "T-thank you… I honestly needed that…"

She nodded wordlessly, then released his hands. "Wait here, she'll be here in a little while…" Kimberly walked back into Nadia's room.

Gadget slumped onto his rear and looked around. He remembered why he always speed-walked and looked at the ground. It was his best attempt to hide from the horror and the pain of the place that surrounded Nadia's room; a place of death encircling a place of hope and healing.

As long as there was a war going on, as long as there were still injured soldiers, the walls would be stained with the blood of children who had perished in the worst military failure in Mobian history, marking the War of the Phantom Ruby as the most violent conflict ever, as well as the bloodiest.

With nothing else to do and awaiting the arrival of his aide, Gadget perked up his ears and listened for footsteps down the hall, careful not to point his ears too close to a door, where he might be met with a distressing flatline. To Gadget's surprise, however, it didn't take long for him to pick up footsteps; he was even more surprised to hear that they were approaching him.

"Are you Gadget?"

He looked up to a silver wolf, a woman.

She had brown inner ears and her muzzle was the same color, a spiral danced across her face, extending down between her eyes, across her forehead and tenderly graced her cheeks.

"Oh, yes…and you are?"

"My name's Abigail. Kimberly sent me."

Gadget nodded, she helped him stand up. Both of them kept their sights on each other to avoid having to look at the devastation around them.

Abigail motioned for Gadget to follow her; he trailed slightly behind with his eyes glued to the ground. "So…" She started, gaining a slight glance from him. "What sort of biology do you need help with?"

He paused and sighed as she reached another door, leading him in; responding once he heard the door shut. "Canaris Finale."

Abigail froze for a while, scanning him cautiously.

Gadget whimpered a little as she scanned him. "I don't know what's going on…. That's why Kimberly called you…"

Abigail seemed to relax a little. "Well, if you're conscious enough to reply to me like a civilized person, you're not going through Canaris Finale… yet."

Gadget seemed a little confused by how she ended her statement. "What do you mean 'yet'? I think I'd know what was happening if I'd already gone through this…. And if I'm not going through Canaris Finale, then what's happening to me? I felt myself shift, I know I did!"

"But you have no desire to have pups, correct?"

"That's an odd way of asking…."

"Canaris Finale is our final development period, as I'm sure you know, and the wolf going through the period experiences undeniable urges to reproduce…."

Gadget cringed awkwardly "Yeesh, I don't remember my health teacher telling me about that part…."

"So you have no desire to father pups, correct?"

"As far as I know, that's correct…"

"So what makes you think you're going through Canaris Finale?"

"Well, there's this girl... and all of a sudden I want to have her as my mate... And I'm not sure that it's completely natural to be feeling that way towards her yet..."

"For an Alpha like you, it is completely natural to feel like that towards a she-wolf."

Gadget sighed in relief, his fear expelled in an inaudible breath.

"However, it seems those feelings might have been heightened by Pre-Canaris Finale, causing them to be more passionate."

"Wait. What did you say?"

"You're in Pre-Canaris Finale, the period that comes immediately before the real Canaris. The changes here are a little subtle, but enough that if the wolf catches it, he or she might be confused and think they're in Canaris Finale. Like you."

"So I don't need to force myself into isolation? Or stay away from Nadia?"

Abigail shook her head and smiled. "As long as you can catch yourself when your desires spike, you don't need to stay away from she-wolves."

Gadget sighed a much louder breath of relief.

Nadia needed him to be with her as much as possible, and to be quite honest, he needed her too.

"Okay, that's good. Would you mind telling me more about Canaris? That way I'll know what to expect and what to watch for?" Gadget held out his paw; the Alpha symbol that meant he wanted to learn.

Abigail nodded and touched the top of his paw, responding to his request wordlessly.

"I will. All adult wolves need to know the full truth about our rites," She bestowed a tender look into Gadget's amber eyes, lifting his soul slightly; she placed a paw under his chin and gently turned his head upwards. "and newly orphaned wolves are no different…."


End file.
